Mindframe

On May 23, 1987 Kenneth Parks drove to his in-laws' house in the middle of the night and brutally murdered his wife’s mother and attempted to kill her father. Prior to that there were no signs of violence, no horrible childhood, no shocking past trauma from a war experience. There was nothing particularly stressful at work. He had some financial issues, a gambling addiction and marital problems, but up until that evening by all accounts he’d been a mild mannered guy with a cordial relationship with his in-laws. Remarkably that night he confessed to the crime and during a subsequent trial was acquitted by a jury of his peers of the murder and attempted murder. A case of injustice, you might ask? No, according to the court documents, it was a case of homicidal somnambulism, sometimes known as lethal sleepwalking.  Sleepwalking is a strange occurrence, part of a larger category of phenomenon known as parasomnias according to David Eagleman in Incognito: Th...

Every day, billions of dollars are exchanged for goods or services in that most American pastime known as shopping. Some people are addicted and some approach it like a firing squad, but sooner or later we all find ourselves partaking. Arguably, shopping is what sets us apart from the animals. What you might not have considered is just what goes on inside your brain during the shopping experience. Suppose you want to buy something. It could be tires for your car, a house, a cell phone, or a sandwich--in any case, it all starts with a product, and a thought experiment. We imagine how that new dress will look at the party this Saturday, or how that new genuine leather wallet will slip comfortably into your pocket. Your brain follows a simple pattern: once a product grabs your attention, you project forward, imagining your new life with that item. If the scenario you've fabricated goes well, you're far more likely to buy. So maybe I'm standing in the Apple store, cons...

When we think of communicating, we might consider speech an essential tool. Some even argue it is this which makes us human. Talking is a pretty cool development, but it’s not the preferred mode of expression in the subconscious brain. Still, the subconscious brain is not without language. It speaks through body language, the playground of gesture and nuance. This was borne out in an interesting experiment conducted in Paris. In an attempt to understand the power of touch,  one day scientists stationed four exceedingly handsome French men on four separate corners. They were given the following task: single out a passing woman. Commenting on her beauty, reach out and shake her hand. Then, suggest a coffee date and ask for her phone number. At the end of the day, each man had solicited roughly 280 women. They had successfully obtained the phone number about 10% of the time. On the next round of the experiment, the scientists made one slight alteration. This time, when the ma...

Last year, roughly 40,000 people died in automobile crashes on America's highways. This is a tragic number, but it has been much worse in the past. Thanks to seatbelts and more crash-resistant vehicles, highway fatalities continue to creep downwards. It is estimated that around 17 people die each year from getting crushed by heavy furniture, including TVs. This is also a tragic number, for many reasons--if nothing else, no one imagines being betrayed by their flatscreen. In 2010 and 2011, not counting war zones, 17 American civilians were killed each year in terrorist attacks on foreign soil. Yes: the same number that fell victim to toppled credenzas and/or falling televisions. I cite these statistics to illustrate the problem of proportionality bias. When terrorists attacks are reported overseas, millions of Americans change their vacation plans and cancel their trips to Europe, but nobody ...